[MOz]

Hi all. First post. Hope you are all keeping well?

I have a 94Ah i3. I’m only 3-pin charging at the moment awaiting a cancelled 7Kw Ohme install after this horrible C-19 situation is defeated.

In the interim and having switched to Octopus Agile I have purchased a 3-pin Ohme smart charger.

Although my home mobile signal is intermittent (the charger receives some schedule changes but not all) it worked OK last night to provide 100% by the requested leave time of 0630. I set the car a departure pre-conditioned time of 0630 too. Unfortunately, my work schedule was delayed (I’m a key worker) and I did not need to travel. Having just been out to the car the interior feels slightly warmer than outside but I can’t be sure the car did pre-condition.

My main question is - does the Ohme Smart Charger recognise departure time and pre-condition requests from the car and switch on to provide them or does the “only charge when cheap” logic deny the car this? The reason I ask is tomorrow the car will already be at 100% battery but I always pre-condition the car. Will the Ohme work to provide the pre-conditioning power? I’ll set the departure time in the car and ensure the Ohme knows I need 100% for the same departure time on it’s charging schedule?

Can anyone help? There’s a lack of info out there? Am I right in thinking we have Ohme representatives on this forum?

Thanks for any help you can throw my way!

 

[diaphon2]

Like you, I'm waiting for a delayed installation of an OHME wall charger. I've asked OHME the question you've posed, and their answer was that the charger is not yet fully compatible with pre-conditioning, but that they are working on a solution. If I understood their answer correctly, it is possible to program the charger to turn on at a certain time, and this would allow the car to draw pre-conditioning power correctly.

Since I don't have the charger installed I haven't been able to try out these features. OHME is really good at replying (or at least they were a few months ago) so you will likely have good luck contacting them directly.

 

[MOz]

I have just heard from them and confirm exactly what they told you. I’m really disappointed this isn’t made clear on the product description. I’m not sure how you can program the charger to come on at a specific time. I’ve set the car charging again (at 100%) this morning setting a 1500 departure time and matching that 1500 time on the charge schedule. I don’t think it will pre-condition properly though. Ohme said the only way to force it to pre-condition is to switch it to max charge just before pre-conditioning is due to start but in my case for most commutes that would be at 0330 in the morning (3-pin pre-conditioning takes 3 hours apparently) so completely pointless.
I’m pretty disappointed to be honest.

I’m hoping there’s an Ohme representative on here who might be able to provide an update??

 

[modeller]

I'd check that the i3 can even precondition the battery and cabin off a 13A. I didn't think it could (as it needs 32A)

 

[diaphon2]

My i3 (2019 120 Ah BEV) is able to precondition the battery and preheat the cabin off of the 13A supply, and it's a really nice feature - I love coming out to a warm car. It's absolutely a shame that the Ohme charger will interfere with this function, I'm hoping they upgrade their software soon.

 

[MOz]

I

I'd check that the i3 can even precondition the battery and cabin off a 13A. I didn't think it could (as it needs 32A)

It can no problem. Just takes a while.
The other thing that won’t be happening with the Ohme charger is any cell balancing either. The more I think about it, the more disappointing it appears. There is clearly no way to save money and utilise all the features of i3 charging with a “smart” charger.

Not so smart really ☹

 

[modeller]

My i3 (2019 120 Ah BEV) is able to precondition the battery and preheat the cabin off of the 13A supply, and it's a really nice feature - I love coming out to a warm car. It's absolutely a shame that the Ohme charger will interfere with this function, I'm hoping they upgrade their software soon.

it might be using the battery to make this happen. The 13A can only supply 3kW

 

[Goldfish120]

Yes, I think it does use some battery power. The i3 will pull about 6 kw peak for about 10 minutes during pre-conditioning. This then tapers to a couple of Kw. ( I have a Zappi Charger so have done basic monitoring). If I set the Zappi to Eco which is pushing 1.3 kw to the vehicle the vehicle pre conditions but some is pulled from the battery. I.e. Vehicle 100% charged, 1.3kw pushed to vehicle, precondition takes place, battery drops to say 99 %. Not sure about 13 amp, but of course the vehicle would not be able to pull the full 6 kw it initially pulls during precondition. I guess it may just take longer but not sure how clever the system is.
Looking forward to Zappi integrating with Octopus but currently charging vehicle off solar. Added 35 miles from my solar yesterday which is more than enough to cover Lockdown mileage.

 

[MOz]

3-pin brick charger does sort pre-conditioning alongside charging as far as I know. It just takes longer. That’s why the departure time always has to be 3 hours ahead.

 

[Goldfish120]

3-pin brick charger does sort pre-conditioning alongside charging as far as I know. It just takes longer. That’s why the departure time always has to be 3 hours ahead.

I may give it a go - I know when plugged into the 7kw my i3s starts preconditioning about 30 / 40 minutes before but does pull 6kw then tapers also I know that 1.3kw pre conditioning can not cope and pulls from the battery. It would be worth doing a test.

Do a post on the i3 Forum someone will know - it is not really a general charge discussion now apologies.

 

[MOz]

A fast charger will sort pre-conditioning much quicker. I’m just concerned there isn’t a “smart” fast charger out there that might not suffer from the same problem ie finish early and not switch back on to pre-condition. At the moment I’m hoping setting a departure time the same time I’m asking the Ohme to finish will sort something out but I don’t think due to the power of the 10amp charger it could manage both?

I posted a link to this thread on the i3 page but haven’t seen any further info.

 

[Goldfish120]

May be worth contacting the myenergi Zappi team, I know there have been discussions about the Zappi Charger having octopus integration like the Ohme. I guess one option is get a 7kw dumb charger and then the 7kw Ohme cable 🤔

 

[Weebull]

With the Open Energy team (EmonEVSE) I've had discussions about supporting pre-conditioning if the charge target is set at 100%. What it would do is switch on to fully charge during the cheap hours, it would then leave the power on until the car is disconnected. The result should be that the bulk of the energy use is during cheap hours, yet the power would be available to pre-condition the car before departure.

Obviously, if you're trying to hit 80%, or something like that, it won't work. So in that case it'll switch off the power in the same way it does now.

This hasn't made it into the code yet, but it sounds like a plan that will work. I was thinking I might have a go at implementing it this weekend, but I haven't sat down to do it.